(Hong Kong) The Hong Kong online pro-democracy media News stand announced its closure on Wednesday after being targeted by a series of searches and seven arrests for “seditious publication”, the latest episode in the crackdown on the local press by pro-Beijing authorities.
The crackdown comes as the international community worries about the relentless takeover in Hong Kong since the 2019 pro-democracy protests. The Committee to Protect Journalists has denounced “an open attack on press freedom already in tatters in Hong Kong ”.
Hong Kong National Security Police Chief Steve Li said News stand was accused of having published “seditious” articles and blog posts between July 2020 and November 2021.
“They described protesters in Hong Kong as ‘missing’ or ‘raped’… These are vicious allegations without any factual basis,” Li said at a press conference.
At midday on Wednesday, the National Security Police were seen pulling out boxes of News stand. Mr. Li claimed that computers, phones, documents and 500,000 Hong Kong dollars (56,856 euros) in cash were seized.
The authorities froze HKD 61 million in assets belonging to News stand, added the police official.
More than 200 officers carried out searches on Wednesday at the headquarters of News stand and at the homes of several media employees. The police said they had been authorized by a court to “search and seize journalistic material of interest”.
The publication’s editor, Patrick Lam, being taken in handcuffs inside the offices of News stand.
Other arrests?
PHOTO PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Denise Ho
According to local media reports, police also arrested ex-editor Chung Pui-kuen, as well as four former board members who resigned in June.
Among the latter are Cantonese pop star Denise Ho, lawyer and former Hong Kong Legislative Council member Margaret Ng as well as ex-journalist for theApple Daily Chan Pui-man, also wife of Mr. Chung.
Mr. Li did not rule out further arrests, explaining that some people not in Hong Kong territory are on a wanted list.
The Deputy Editor-in-Chief of News standRonson Chan, also president of the Hong Kong Journalists Association, said his home was searched and police seized computer equipment from his home. But he was not arrested.
“Because of the current situation, News stand will cease its activity immediately, and will stop updating its site and all its social networks ”, announced the publication on its Facebook page.
News stand also indicated that all its staff had been made redundant, that its editor-in-chief Patrick Lam had resigned, and that the site would be taken offline soon.
” News stand was editorially independent, and dedicated to protecting Hong Kong’s core values such as democracy, human rights, liberty, the rule of law and justice, ”continued the outlet, created in 2014 and selected in November for the Reporters Without Borders Press Freedom Award.
Second targeted media
During the 2019 protests, several journalists from News stand had had trouble with the police.
In a famous episode, a media reporter filmed live the ultraviolet attack carried out by a group of masked individuals against pro-democracy protesters in a metro station, and continued to film even as the attackers attacked. to her.
News stand has been the target in recent months of sharp criticism from the authorities. Hong Kong security official Chris Tang had recently accused him of publishing “biased, defamatory and demonized” information about the city’s prisons.
It is the second local newspaper company to find itself in the crosshairs of the authorities.
In June, the pro-democracy journal Apple Daily had closed after its assets were frozen and its top executives were arrested under a drastic new national security law imposed by Beijing in July 2020.
Several Hong Kong opponents who fled abroad condemned Wednesday’s arrests.
“The Chinese Communist Party continues to pursue journalists and media who dare to contradict it and tell the truth. The arrests of Denise Ho and Margaret Ng are perfect examples, ”tweeted opponent Nathan Law, in exile in the United Kingdom.
” News stand represents one of the last vestiges of independent journalism in Hong Kong and we are not sure that it can survive this repression, for his part said Brian Leung, representative of the movement based in the United States Hong Kong Democracy Council.
The Hong Kong Journalists Association and the Foreign Correspondent Club, which represent local and foreign journalists respectively, said they were “deeply concerned.”